True Purpose
by Linkala
Summary: The Master Emerald has been shattered, but this time it can't be put back together. Everyone is blaming Chaotix, Knuckles is blaming himself, Sonic is trying to link Eggman to this disaster, but is it really a disaster when Angel Island hasn't fallen?
1. Coming Over

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Sonic characters, SEGA does.**

**Authors Notes: This is my first fan fiction. Please read and review because I'll only continue if I get 5 positive reviews. Even though I do enjoy writing this will slow the progress of my other stories that are being published soon. I need to get feedback on my story writing abilities so I can improve before my main works hit the shelves, so please review as a favour to me, please?**

**This story is set about two years or so after Sonic Heroes. So the characters ages are:**

**Amy – 15**

**Charmy – 8**

**Cream – 8**

**Espio – 20**

**Knuckles – 18**

**Rouge – 19**

**Sonic – 17**

**Tails – 10**

**Vector – 22**

**I don't know every little detail of the Sonic universe, if I make a mistake please correct me.**

**The rating will probably go up in later chapters.**

**If you ask for me to keep going I'll try to update as quickly as possible but there may be delays since I'm a student in year 11, the head of a household, a working artist and an author. Plus there's my social and psychological welfare to consider here, if my friends start to forget about my existence or my brother replaces my ADHD medication with Tic-Tacs again (yes it really has happened) the chapters will be late. But I promise that whatever holds up the progress of the story will not affect the quality of it; I'm a very firm believer in quality over something done quickly and half-arsed.**

**Anyway, enough of me. Enjoy the story.**

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Sonic approached at a walking pace crushing the dark soggy grass underfoot, umbrella in his left hand and Tails and Amy at either side. The Tornado became further and further away as they trudged closer and closer to the towering shrine of the Master Emerald.

It had been a boring week for all three of them.

Tails had been struggling with inspiration for new creations, lately nothing seemed to get him excited, maybe it was the weather but he'd still felt overwhelmingly listless even before the storms.

Amy's life revolved around pursuing her beloved Sonic, but there was just no sense of sport when her prey wouldn't run and she couldn't chase after him.

And the constant rain meant that Sonic couldn't roam. Usually a small shower wouldn't stop him but this monsoon seemed to be out for his hide.

"Look, there's Knuckles" declared Amy at the sighting of a red figure at foot of the shrine's mountainous steps.

Tails contributed to the addition of some dialogue. "And that must be Rouge" He pointed to a second silhouette.

As they got gradually nearer they realized that there was a small group apart from the two treasure hunters.

"Is that … Team Chaotix?" Amy asked.

Tails squinted at the smallest of those who had gathered. "And Cream too?"

It seemed as though whatever happened had involved a lot of people. The three wondered if Knuckles had called all of them and told them to come or whether they were witnesses and bystanders. And they couldn't help pondering over what could've happened to the Master Emerald that would make Knuckles sound so freaked out on the phone. The only emotions that they believed existed in the crimson echidna were anger, annoyance plus the tendency to take every little thing too seriously, so the introduction of a thing like shock to Knuckles was a shock to everyone else.

Before they could wonder as to why Knuckles was using a phone and where he got it, their rather long two minute walk came to an end.

Sonic, Amy and Tails took in the vision of everyone in their wet weather gear and tried to make sense of what they were talking about.

"C'mon! You gotta believe me, I'd never do somethin' like this, why the heck would I!" Vector seemed to be pleading and begging with Knuckles, but Knuckles didn't even look as though he was tuned into his surroundings.

His head was bowed slightly under the hood of an old cloak he'd obviously made himself, judging from the lack of design or proper stitching, and his violet eyes were focused on a far away point in his mind.

Charmy hovered above Vector with an orange umbrella, he occasionally bantered in Vectors aid without really thinking about what he was saying. "Yeah, me and Vector are innocent! We were asleep the whole time!"

Rouge snapped at the two detectives since Knuckles was absorbed in his own thoughts. "How could you all let this happen! I thought you were supposed to be detectives! What kind of detectives can't even concentrate on what's happening right in front of them!"

Charmy's hand shot up "Ooh, I know, I know!"

Rouge let out a frustrated growl and flicked her hair, which had reached shoulder length since anyone had last seen her and had formed into ringlets. As usual she aimed to be at the pinnacle of style, she currently wore a purple raincoat with a set of matching boots and topped it all off with an umbrella that fit in perfectly with everything else. She spoke through her sharp teeth.

"Your incompetence has reached new levels that would surprise the record book people! If you feel like redeeming yourselves any time soon you may want to take a few steps towards solving this! It shouldn't be too hard because you witnessed the whole thing!"

Rouges voice rang with sarcasm, but sarcasm currently didn't exist in Vectors mind.

"But we didn't see anything, we fell asleep!" he whined.

They finally managed to realize the presence of Sonic, Amy and Tails and greeted them.

"Hey guys. It's been a while" Rouge said with a tone that would have been warmer if it were a different situation.

"I love your hair" said Amy, the typical girly thing that she'd say.

"Hi everyone"

"What's going on?" Sonic got straight to the point.

Before anyone could answer, a little voice asked from behind the form of Espio, who was standing back from the others. "Is Miss Rouge mad at me too?"

Rouge knelt down to the eye level of Cream and put on a voice and an expression that surprised everyone, possibly more so than the sound of Knuckles in a state of panic.

"No sweetie, you didn't do anything wrong"

"Can we fix the emerald?" the rabbit asked, clinging to Espio's black coat and fixing Rouge with a look that could make a statue cry out of pity for the little girl.

Rouge handed her umbrella to Knuckles before wandering over and lifting Cream up into her arms.

"Don't worry, everything will be alright" she purred in an oddly maternal way, the brief thought of Rouge as anyone's mother to the group was creepy. Nevertheless, Cream smiled at the bat under a yellow raincoat with a pattern of daisies.

"Fix the emerald?" Sonic questioned.

"Go see for yourself" said Knuckles, he made a gesture towards the ancient stairs. No one could figure out when he'd snapped back into the realms of reality, but they were relieved that they didn't have to look at the unfamiliar blank expression on his face anymore.

Sonic, Amy and Tails began the climb, Team Chaotix decided to follow rather than stay behind with Rouge. She managed to stop Espio before he could get away, despite his ninja ability to be inconspicuous.

"You go with your uncle Espio, sweetie, my arms are getting tired" She handed the little beaming bunny to a betrayed looking Espio. The expression he gave Rouge would have made a great photo to blackmail him with if she'd had a camera with her.

"But I wasn't even here when it happened, why am I being punished?" he asked.

Rouge just rolled her eyes and could finally see how Espio fit in with Vector and Charmy, he was an idiot in his own private way. When the ninja was out of earshot she stood by the Emeralds guardian.

"I never thought that you'd be so good with kids" he commented "I thought you hated them"

"I only hate the things I can't have" she sighed to herself under a gloomy breath.

"What?"

"Oh, it's nothing. Come on, we should follow them"

At the top of the stairs was a sight that no one could have ever imagined.

What had once been the Master Emerald lay in millions of pieces, strewn across every inch of the wet stones under their feet. The Emerald had been broken before, but it had only been done because its guardian knew it could be reassembled as long as its power was still strong within the shards. The gems lurid lustre had been extinguished this time, and the fragments could have been mistaken for chunks of green glass.

The Master Emerald was dead.

No one spoke until the sound of Knuckles and Rouges footsteps announced their presence at the peak of the stairs.

"What happened?" Sonic asked solemnly.

"I had to leave the island for the day … I heard where I might find a Chaos Emerald and I knew I had to get it before Eggman or someone similar could track it down"

Rouge was suddenly stunned at the words of the echidna. He was lying … to his friends, of all the creatures in the world. She'd never imagined that Knuckles knew how to lie; it was just something that he didn't seem capable of, like how she'd never been able to pull off the sleeper hold properly so she never did it. _'Wow, you really do learn something new every day'_ she said in the privacy of her head.

"I asked Team Chaotix to take my place for the time I was gone. When it turned out that the tip was false I came straight back here, but by then these idiots had fallen asleep at their post and this happened"

Knuckles had tried to sound like he was furious at the detectives but he knew that it wasn't their fault, he knew it was wrong to palm the blame off onto these innocent imbeciles, but he just couldn't admit to the world that this had happened because he'd been an irresponsible guardian.

He knew he wasn't irresponsible, he'd been the emeralds faithful servant for as long as he could remember, relinquishing everything else that came into his life. He'd spent his existence training himself within the solitude of the island to fend off the various miscreants that threatened to abuse the sacred treasure. He never knew the true purpose of the Master Emerald, it was likely that no one did, all he knew was that the Emerald contained more power than anything in the known world. That fact alone was reason enough to keep the emerald safe at all times from those who wanted to use it.

But … it'd just been so peaceful and quiet over the past year, it was almost as though the bad guys were taking a break from it all. He grew curious as to what it would be like if he got away from the island for just one day. But he buried this fascination under logic; he knew that if he gave into his urge he would only crave it the more afterwards.

Then it happened. The event that changed his way of thinking for what had seemed like the better …

… he'd fallen into a relationship with Rouge.

_To be continued…_

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**More Authors Notes: That was the first chapter, obviously, it was going to be longer but I wanted to create a bit of suspense. Plus if I'd continued it would have been enough to turn all the readers blind from staring at their computer screens for too long, and the last thing I need is a whole lot of lawsuits on top of everything else. This chapter was slow, but I promise that it'll get more interesting in the next installment. Like I said before, I need your feedback, I'll only continue once I receive 5 positive reviews. Negative remarks are whole heartedly welcome, it's the only way I'll improve my writing.**

**Thanks for reading.**

**This is Linkala, over and out.**


	2. Been Away Too Long

**Disclaimer: I repeat in this chapter, I don't own anything.**

**Authors Notes: Arrrgh! I'm sorry! I broke my promise! I promised that this chapter would be more interesting but it's slower than the last one, please forgive me. Anyway, I know I said I'd only add this chapter if I got 5 positive reviews, but I finished it before I could get the feedback of three more readers and decided that waiting to submit it was silly. Please review some more, I really need to know how my writing is. I can't get an honest opinion at the moment because the only ones reading my stuff are my friends and family.**

**Just to let everyone know, this chapter takes off directly from where the first one ended with Knuckles spacing out and thinking to himself.**

**Enjoy the second chapter.**

Knuckles found himself getting lost in his own thoughts and memories once again, but he couldn't care less.

The bat appeared to know the most intricate workings of his mind and soul, and she loved them. She loved him despite his flawed character, his pitiable lifestyle and his loyalty to something that she knew he could never abandon for anything, even her.

She was so understanding of everything he said and did, he'd grown accustomed over the past few months of their secret romance to confiding in her and sharing his deepest thoughts and desires. She'd then shed some light on his worries and accept him for the imperfect being that he was. For the first time in his life he'd felt secure.

The day eventually came when he told Rouge about his curiosity of what a day away from the Master Emerald would be like. As usual, she was eager to help him overcome his anxieties and he expected the answer she gave.

"If you really feel that way then you should go with what your desires demand" she'd said.

"But I …" he'd tried to say.

"Knuckles, I know the emerald is important to you and you have a responsibility to it, but you can't let your job rule your existence. The life of a loner is just plain depressing and it'll drain away your soul" she spoke in a commanding tone that would be best to obey, but that wasn't the reason he gave in.

He wanted to prove that he wasn't scared of changing his ways, even if it was only for a little while, he wanted show Rouge that her efforts of trying to help him weren't in vain, and he wanted to see the world he'd live in if he'd never become the Master Emeralds guardian.

"I'll do it" he'd finally conceded.

"Who could've done this?"

The sound of Tails' bewildered voice cutting through the air of silence brought the echidna out of his memory.

"What are you saying Tails? It's obvious who did this!" Sonics voice went to the setting he used when Eggman was the point of discussion. Everyone else gave him a depressing look and stared at the stones splashed with green beneath their feet.

"It's not Eggman this time" Knuckles said in a sobering tone.

His eyes fixated on the empty base that once held his lifes' purpose and reason for being born into this world. What was he now? He had a destiny and he'd failed uphold it. Did this take away all the right he had to live in this world? Where would he go from here?

Rouge saw the painful expression that had seeped into Knuckles face and vocalized the thoughts conveyed in his body language.

"Eggman couldn't do something like this. It's easy enough to break the emerald, but to destroy it completely, to take away its life…" her voice trailed off and she bowed her head slightly with the same air about her as Knuckles.

The rest standing around thought they knew how she felt, that she'd lost her one true conquest in life, that giant green gem just begging to be a part of her legendary collection. They were way off. True, she had always loved the emerald, but she'd long given up on stealing it away from its guardian.

…_flashback…_

Thunder crashed, wind howled, rain pounded everything. The night was dark, even for her, because of the heavy clouds looming above her. She ran in the dark and freezing cold, she would have to be brain-dead to try and fly, she knew that by the time she'd claimed her prize she'd have caught pneumonia, but it would all be worth it.

Rouge stopped and strained her bat ears trying to pick out sounds other than the din of the storm. She couldn't really hear anything; her ears were half filled with rainwater.

'Good' she thought to herself, as she leaned against a tree for support "If I can't hear or see or anything that means knucklehead is completely lost on his own island right now"

She'd said it aloud, but a crash of thunder stole her words, a flash of lightning exposed the silhouette of the towering shrine and its gorgeous treasure for a single second.

"You sound really confident" a voice said behind her, a tone that was one hundred percent pure hatred for the white creature in front of him.

She darted around at the last second and grabbed the guardians bleeding fist, micro seconds away from the back of her head. She struggled with its force briefly before pushing it backwards over his shoulder, causing him to slip and land on his back in the mud. She wasted no time and made a dash for the shrine that was only a field length away. Behind her the red echidna got to his feet once again and half staggered, half ran after her.

'Damn it!' she cursed in her mind 'he just wont give up!"

Three hours, and the end seemed near now. After three hours of trying relentlessly to get the persistent guardian lost in the storm of the century he was finally reaching the limit past limits. She gave Knuckles a triumphant smirk over her shoulder as she reached the foot of the stone stairs, but this was only a force of habit. On the inside she was yelling at herself for pushing him to the brink of death over a jewel, but it was a very special jewel to her.

Rouge couldn't see or hear the guardian anymore in the dark and she felt a pang of worry, what if he'd fainted? This thought was instantly put to rest as she spotted him coming towards her from the corner of her eye. She delivered the final blow that would subdue him for good. She spun quickly and dealt out a fierce roundhouse kick that struck him square in his crescent moon mark. Before he could hit the ground she went for the stairs but a sickening sound made her freeze.

She turned and illuminated by a streak of lightning in the distance she saw where Knuckles had landed. Red liquid stained the rock where it had met with the echidnas head, the echidna lay on his side, his eyes were closed, he wasn't moving, and blood moved outwards from his forehead, seeping into the grass and his soaked dreadlocks.

Rouge flung herself to his side and tried to stop the blood flow with her by pressing on it with her hand, but it was no use. She lifted his limp body into a sitting position to keep his head elevated but it was like trying to prop up a rag doll. Her eyes took in the sight of the guardians blood staining her arms and the ground around her, there was way too much lost. She looked at his blank face under the stain of red as she burst into tears.

"Oh god Knuckles! I'm so sorry!" she cried clutching his body to hers and shaking uncontrollably, she rubbed her face against his shoulder, her tears mingled with rain and red, more blood from his dreadlocks stained her white hair. Why had she gone this far just for a stupid emerald! Her mind screamed. A sudden idea hit her, she knew it was probably just insane, but nevertheless, she lifted the form of the crimson echidna and lurched up the stairs of the shrine as fast as gravity and her stamina would allow her. She got to the top and placed his body against the base of the Master Emerald, his limp hand brushed the gems surface. Surely the emeralds power would save its protector?

Rouge sat for almost ten minutes at Knuckles side, continuing to press on the wound in a helpless effort to stop the flow. It finally began to subside but the bat could hazard a guess that it was only stopping because there was hardly anything left to pump out. Tears ran down her cheeks as the minutes passed and nothing happened. The rain was beginning to die down but she didn't notice. She eventually plucked up the nerve to put two fingers against his throat, she searched for a pulse, but Knuckles wasn't that lucky. She let out a whimper and covered her face with both bloody hands. Her guardian was dead.

She remained on her knees for an unknown amount of minutes before she slowly got to her feet, almost falling over again. Through her fingers the Master Emerald gave off a light green glow, just like it always did. Rouge was suddenly furious at the rock. It was completely unaffected, it's nothing but devoted protector was dead and it couldn't care less!

She lunged forward with a balled fist.

But her feet were kicked out from under her and she fell forward, across the legs of a red echidna with a look of murder on his face.

"Knuckles…" was all she could breathe, gazing up at the guardian back from the dead with a look of blank shock. He was completely oblivious to the gash across his forehead or the blood soaked into his now redder fur, he got to his feet with difficultly and glared at Rouge.

"You … have no idea!" he snapped through laboured breath. Rouge went numb. "This emerald … is everything! You have no idea of … the power it contains! Destroying it, taking it … is the end of all this!" He made a weak gesture to his Angel Island surroundings. "I'm not giving up …Rouge! My duty comes … before everything!"

Knuckles took a weary yet determined step towards her, so he was standing over her, she was still sprawled across the ground.

"We're not done …yet!"

He put his cut fists up in a fighting stance, his eyes were half closed and he swayed from side to side. His body should have been rightfully dead, but the bat saw within his violet eyes a dedication that she couldn't have possibly imagined. But that dedication wasn't towards a sacred relic or a powerful stone … it was towards a cherished meaning.

She finally understood…

… She finally understood the importance of it.

It wasn't the power it had over the Chaos Emeralds, It wasn't the fact that it kept Angel Island afloat. She realized that the Master Emerald was Knuckles life, it was all he'd ever had. She could never steal it away now … what would happen to the echidna if his entire reason for being alive was suddenly gone?

She got to her feet and walked slowly over to the hostile guardian, he didn't lower his fists until Rouge put her arms around him firmly and held him close. His body went loose once again in bewilderment, as she said softly next to his ear before she buried her face into his chest to cry again:

"I never knew … please forgive me"

…_end flashback…_

_To be continued…_

**Authors Notes: Aww, that was sad**. **Good thing it worked out though. I wrote this at 2 am and I somehow forgot that I was supposed to be writing it, rather than reading it, and that it was just a flashback and I got really sad. Nuts eh? I'll try and update ASAP, until then, please give me your honest reviews.**

**Thanks for your attention.**

**This is Linkala, ending transmission. **


	3. Unreliable

**Disclaimer: I don't own them, but if I did I'd make the guys put some freaking clothes on!  
Authors Notes: Chapter 3 is back! I had it posted for about half an hour or so last night before I realized that I could do little bit better, I think I did better, hopefully. Same as last time, this chapter picks up directly where the last one left us. This one is gonna be different than the last two chapters, you'll see why when you get into it. I've attempted to fix my grammar, if it's still shaky then just yell at me. I've also tried to answer a few questions like 'Why is Cream there?' and 'Why wasn't Espio there?' Anyway, enough prattling, here's Chapter 3.**

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"Rouge? … Hey Rouge!" a familiar voice pried the bat from her memories. She looked up again to see the inquiring gaze of the red echidna, everyone else had focused on her too, she blushed lightly at the sensation of their stares.

"Sorry. I just … trailed off, I guess" Rouge apologized.

Her eyes briefly rested on the still-healing wound that would forever scar Knuckles' perfect face and remind her of that night, it had been six months since then but it still seemed as though it had been six hours ago. The others hadn't said anything about it, apart from Charmy of course.

Knuckles told her earlier about how Charmy had seen him, when Chaotix had first arrived for their job, and how the bee exclaimed with a pointing finger: _"Whoa! Knuckles gave himself a brain transplant!"_

She dismissed all the recollections swimming in her head by giving it a small shake and quickly switched back to the point she'd been making, before she could forget it.

"I can't think of a single reason why Eggman would do this even if it was possible for him to cause this much damage" she concluded.

"But there's still the chance" Sonic argued, his brow knitted with fast thought "Maybe it is possible for him, maybe he's been holding back on us this whole time" He instantly felt stupid at this suggestion but he thought of another theory quickly to cover it up. "Maybe he's made a machine for stealing the emeralds power after it's been broken"

"I don't think so, Sonic" said Tails, frowning at his buddy "I've seen the kind of technology that Eggman uses and has at his disposal, and quite frankly, I just don't think he could"

"What do you mean?" asked Amy. Tails really hated having to disagree with his best friend, but this really was a situation that required thinking further than the "default enemy is at it again" conclusion.

"I mean, it's possible to invent something that could drain the emeralds power" He scratched his ear in thought as he said this "But it has to be contained in something after it's been taken, and there isn't enough technology in the world to store that much energy" he explained, Knuckles gave a nod in understandable agreement.

Sonic suddenly began to get annoyed with his twin tailed friend "And what makes you so sure? Can you think of anyone else who'd do this!" he snapped, stepping forward.

"He's sure, Sonic!" Knuckles growled. The blue hedgehog snapped back to his senses.

"Sorry Tails" he muttered "It's just…"

"Yeah, I know, you can't think of anyone other than Eggman" Tails knew Sonic better than anyone, he knew that Sonic wasn't one for sudden changes in his routine, and he knew that Eggman was definitely a part of his routine.

There was a very short pause before Sonic turned to the detectives who had been trying to remain ignored until they could sneak away.

"How could you sleep through something like this! You must've been dead while it happened!" he said with reemerging disbelief.

The crocodile took offense at this and made sure that the blue hog knew it.

"What? You're actin' like I fell asleep on purpose! I was exhausted, you know how demandin' all our other work is!"

"We have other work?" Charmy questioned.

"Babysitting doesn't count. Especially when we're not getting paid for it" Espio said the second part of his sentence with an irritated matter-of-factly tone that that even Vector could recognize.

"I can't charge Vanilla, those single mums got it tough, y'know!" He scooped Cream up under her arms and held her inches away from the chameleon's nose, startling Espio more than the girl. "And look at that face! Wouldn't you do anything for somethin' so darn cute?" Cream giggled.

"Vector would do anything for Cream's mum!" Charmy said loud enough for the whole island to hear. The crocodile's foot met the bee's rear.

"Can it, Shorty! Or I'll chain you to desk duty!" he snapped.

Sonic focused on the ninja "Hey Espio, I can't picture you falling asleep on the job, where were you?" he asked, the tone half general curiosity, half suspicion.

"If you must know I was on the job" he was a little insulted by the question, but not a lot, he'd molded himself to be an impossibly tolerant being "I was at the edge of the island in camouflage, if any enemies had approached from my side I would have taken care of them quickly without alerting my presence to anyone else" Espio said this through his ego, everyone else realized now that he'd again been too focused on his task to really see what was happening, they now knew he wasn't to blame. The chameleon shot a nasty look at his youngest associate. "I arranged for Charmy to be keeping watch at the other end of the island"

"Nothing was happening so I went back to the shrine to play with Cream, but then I fell asleep!" Charmy's statement ended with Espio's fist connecting with the back of his hyper active brain. Espio's supernatural tolerance was doomed to be forever squelched by that idiotic insect.

"The idea of being 'on guard at all times' is that you're literally on guard at all times" he hissed through his teeth.

While this happened, realization appeared to dawn on Vector, like he was remembering something important about the night that would shed some light on this catastrophe and stop these growing suspicions and accusations. No such luck, he then turned to Knuckles with an angry glare.

"Where the heck were you!" He asked, poking the guardian in the chest with a large green finger.

"Looking for a Chaos Emerald, he said so before" Amy droned at the croc's random moment of idiocy.

"Vector, don't you think that questioning Knuckles might make everyone realize how stupid you really are?" Espio sighed.

"That's not what I meant" he growled, still staring paranoid daggers at his client "I remember you calling and tellin' me you were done with your job! I remember specifically sayin' to Charmy that we'd be relieved of our duties by the time midnight rolled 'round, that's what you said to me!"

"Hey, I do remember that" said the bee. His boss gave a triumphant smirk. The detective had leaned in so he was inches away and glared into Knuckles' jolted expression.

"And if I recall correctly, we were up at first light and you weren't there!"

Knuckles was so astounded by the crocodile's sudden accusation that words failed him completely, he was grateful for this, because if he hadn't been shocked into losing his speech he would have been making a long suspicious pause while he thought of believable story.

"Is that true Knuckles?" asked Sonic.

"I was…" he tried to force an answer, only he wasn't an experienced on-the-spot liar. Fortunately, Tails asked another question and cut him off.

"Hey wait, when did you get a phone, Knuckles?"

He thought for sure that he was going to blow it now, but Rouge picked up on this and jumped in to save him.

"It was mine" This earned the eyes of everyone, the stunned echidna included. "I was here about a week ago when I last tried to take the emerald, I lost it in the resulting fight and knucklehead decided to steal it" for this story she made sure that she'd temporarily switched back to the old Rouge for a few seconds, the one who despised the guardian of her life's conquest and would accuse him of theft in a heartbeat.

Knuckles had thought for a second that Rouge was fed up of keeping their "friendship" a secret and was going to tell them, revealing that he'd really been with her the day before … and the night. He wished he could just tell them all the real reason, but he knew he'd sacrificed too much for his duty to simply admit he'd let it all go for one day of a normal life.

"I didn't come back until morning because it got too dark to get back to the island" he finally managed to craft a suitable excuse "I thought the moon was going to be out last night, these storm clouds managed to fix that. And I would've called you but the phone didn't work, something about no signals, or something like that" He'd never been happier that he possessed an attention span that could rival that of a gargoyle's, Rouge could complain about her phone service for longer than any normal person could pay attention.

Knuckles had his own questions for the now sheepish looking detective Vector.

"If you and Charmy and Cream were all asleep how come you didn't wake up when it happened?" Knuckles asked "This is a very peaceful and quiet island, a giant shattering jewel here would wake the dead"

"Hehehe, remember those words, Knuckles. You'll realize how ironic they are later"

Everyone felt the swift unpleasant feeling of the unfamiliar, before turning around to see who owned the voice.

Sitting cross legged on the stones at the back of the shrine, an ebony figure gazed through everyone's expressions and sent shivers through the air around them.

The rain soaked his midnight fur and quills, but he was seemingly oblivious to the weather. He seemed intrigued by the previous conversation and going ons, but his body screamed out that he knew something … and that he would take enormous pleasure in watching them try to find out what it was.

He maintained the small smile that partnered with his stare.

The words just spoken were ignored. Questions began to erupt in everyone's heads, the most popular one's being "Who is he?", "How long has he been there?", "How did he get there without us noticing?" and "Why is he smiling like that?"

A long silence flourished as the result of these shared thoughts.

Knuckles, the one who could sense the most about someone the first time he encountered them, had only one question that burnt itself into his mind. A realization about the creature that made his body rigid, his heart beat faster and a bead of sweat escape his forehead.

"_Why isn't he breathing?"_

_To be continued…_

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**Authors Notes: Erratic chapter, wasn't it? If it's annoying that way then I apologize. I finally got away from the inner dialogue and continued on what was happening outside of everyone's heads. There will be more insight into the other characters thoughts as the story progresses, it comes with being a 3rd person omniscient writer.  
I've decided to name each chapter after a song, and if I'm feeling particularly creative the song name will have at least some relevance to the happenings of the chapter. To make things more interesting around here, anyone who can give the reason why I named a chapter after the song name it has will get a prize. The prizes are currently random spoilers for the story at the moment, just until I can think of something that anyone would actually want.**

**Until next time.**

**This is Linkala, signing off. **


	4. She's Moving In

**Disclaimer: I don't own them, but if I did Charmy would take a vow of silence.**

**Authors Notes: Bear with me, I have a few things to say before we get this chapter underway.**

**Firstly, thank you to all those who sent me their theories on what's going to happen as True Purpose's plot unfolds. A few times over the past week my family caught me reading my emails and occasionally exclaiming: "Dammit! Why didn't I think of that!" I'm happy to see that a lot of you are interested in my little series.**

**Secondly, an extra special _THANK YOU_ to my friend, Daniel Stack. Who took over in the production of this chapter while I got over a small but severe writer's block. Thanks so much man, you saved the story! **

**Thirdly, I apologize that this chapter wasn't as quick to appear as the others were, but this one is about a third longer than any of the others so far, I hope this makes up for it.**

**And Fourthly, I'm so sorry about the blatant stereotypes conveyed in the First Impressions analogy! Please forgive me and don't beat me with walking sticks or call me a conformist!**

**Well, that's all for the author's bantering, enjoy Chapter 4.**

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Several strained silences passed before they could all make out in the poor grey light exactly who this figure was, and mentally kicked themselves for being so blind.

"Shadow?" Amy questioned.

Yes, it was Shadow, but … no. Something was wrong, he looked different.

His regular physical attributes were all in check … Black fur, jet shoes, gloves, gold bracelets, a whisper of snowy hair on his chest, ruby eyes that matched his … grey stripes?

The steady rain shower weighed down black quills streaked with a dark blue-grey, contrary to the usual red markings that gave the impression of blood stains that partnered with his…

…eyes were transfixed on a faraway point in everyone's minds. While their stomachs turned over at the icy look it was impossible to look away. The crimson fire inside the orbs seemed to spiral deeper and deeper and then disappear within the black centres. But to call the pupils of his eyes 'black' was ludicrous, black would be blinding white in comparison. These centres were holes leading into Somewhere Else.

A cold and smug smile, unlike anything the Ultimate Life form could perform, triggered a feeling of discomfort in the groups' innards. The pseudo-Shadow had paused for an unnaturally long moment before answering the rose hedgehog, in a tone of voice that left everything else about him in the dust.

"In a way"

The expression remained as constant as time. Similar to the kind of time that passed as they all waited for "Shadow" to elaborate on his reply.

Eventually, impatience overcame the grasping glare and Sonic demanded a proper response.

"In a way what! How can you be Shadow 'in a way'!"

Everyone felt their teeth clench and their muscles tense, Charmy whispered to himself, "Uh oh" at the blue hedgehog's sudden flare up, after glancing at him quickly they looked back to the mysterious creature. There was no falter in his stare, but somewhere within his black holes a flash of delight at Sonic's uneasiness was visible for a fraction of a moment. This little spark seemed to spark off his hollow chuckle again. Sonic scowled at the smart-arsed hedgehog.

Knuckles could figure things out faster than his blue friend could, and right now he figured out that if this being wasn't the Shadow they knew … where was their Shadow? His large fists were raised.

"What have you done with Shadow?" the echidna growled, taking a step forward.

Relief surged through everyone when the charcoal hedgehog closed his eyes. Cream shivered and wrapped her arms around Amy who returned the embrace, understanding how she felt at that moment. The Chaotix team members took a simultaneous step backwards that didn't suit them at all, but this went unnoticed. The nauseating look didn't stay hidden for long.

"I haven't done anything with that lab rat … why? Are you concerned for him?" the black hedgehog asked.

"He's our friend!" replied Sonic, now more frustrated than ever. He hadn't seen the black bugger in months, but still… "If you've done anything bad to him-"

"You'll do what? Order your stuffed animals to attack me?" He asked sarcastically. Now the distant gleam in the dark hedgehog's eyes became more prominent.

'_Well this is going nowhere, but he looks strong. I'm not sure if we can risk a fight' _thought Sonic, '_but if he won't tell us where Shadow is, we'll have to find him ourselves!'_

The very same thoughts were running through Knuckles' mind, yet he had no intention of letting this creature toy with their heads any longer. This thing knew something! He suddenly felt his body leap forward, almost without thinking about it, and raised his arms as he jumped toward the black hedgehog. Directing his powerful fist, he let his arm fly forward with all the strength he could muster. He prepared for the impact, but there was none. Quickly, he spun around in mid-air to see what had happened, and he felt an elbow drive right into his stomach.

He opened his eyes and could only see the face of Sonic above him. He turned his head a little and noticed that the pseudo-Shadow was still there, unhurt.

"Pathetic. If you take every new threat in this manner, no wonder Shadow was so weak, he spends his time around such, feeble, beings."

"Sonic, don't try and fight him, he's much too powerful," whispered Knuckles, still lying on the ground.

"What do we do?" he asked.

"Well?" Asked the pseudo-Shadow. "What are you going to do about me?"

Rouge took in the sight of her echidna across the stones and suddenly started running towards the attacker. As she got closer, she jumped into the air, pointing a foot in his direction. And she too, felt just at the time she was meant to hit, he wasn't there. She landed on the ground behind where she thought he had been. She glanced around and there was no sign of him anywhere. She turned around only to find his glaring eyes staring at her.

"I cannot fight you yet" he said at last, and he smiled his sickening smile again. Rouge backed off, slightly puzzled by his statement.

"Then how about me?" said Sonic, now stepping forward to back up his words.

"Yes, your survival is of no significance" he responded.

Sonic was always bad when it came to insults but this guy had something to add to the feeling, but before the blue hedgehog could retaliate his opponents head suddenly snapped around and focused at the bottom of the shrine's stone stairs. It took a few seconds for the others to follow his eye's target.

Standing at the bottom of the stairs was a second person wearing a rain cloak whom none of them had seen before, but this one was staring murderously at the anti-Shadow.

It's a common thing to believe that first impressions were often wrong, don't judge a book by its cover, and all that jazz. But in contradiction to this statement, first impressions more than often were the intro to the whole story.

In the first second that an individual is spied by another, the mind of the observer takes in the main elements of their appearance and adds them up into the controversial First Impression.

The process goes something like this and it all happens in one twentieth of a second.

Person spotted, white hair, walking stick, wrinkles, loose dress, flat shoes, thick glasses ... old woman. Or like this…

Person spotted, black hair, black clothes, pale skin, piercings, distant expression ... goth.

These impressions are introductions to the uncomplicated stories of these types. But then there are those with such unique covers that deeper investigation is always required.

From the first sighting of this new stranger, up until her first words directed at those gathered, everything previously explained would be happening at once within the minds of the group, struggling hopelessly to come to a first impression that made sense.

As she began the climb, approaching the gathering and the anonymous ebony male, the observation process humming inside everyone's brain was…

Red fur, dreadlocks, pointed muzzle, purple eyes, tribal wear, stern expression ... echidna.

She reached the top quickly and stood in direct range of the black creature's supernatural stare, she remained unshaken by his technique, and countered his assault with the same move. The muscles in the face of the male reset to the first look he'd given everyone before, but a fleeting flash of sadistic pleasure at the arrival of this girl flared momentarily within it. He eventually spoke.

"How nice to see you again. What brings you all the way out here? Business or pleasure?"

"Pleasure will always be too much to hope for with you around, as for business, you tell me"

As this continued, a few of them such as Sonic and Rouge noticed that this girl wasn't an echidna, but it was the closest description available for how she looked.

Her fur was the same shade of red as Knuckle's. She also had dreadlocks, a standard feature of all echidnas, but hers were thinner and long enough for the ends to linger at the level of her knees.

"Such a harsh tone" her opponent replied. They were all released from the unbearable strain of his eyes as he closed them briefly in mild thought. "And after I've come all the way here to see you … but I gather that you're rather unavailable at this time" He reopened his orbs so they were fully pin pointed on the girl.

They also realized that this girl's muzzle was the correct look of an echidna's, but it was too short. And a few moments spent on the observation of her violet eyes would reveal that they faded from midnight blue, to deep purple and into the depths of the iris, in an incredibly similar way to the anti-Shadow's orbs.

She decoded the message in his sentence and smirked at him.

"Hmm … Don't you see a little drawback in this plan of yours?"

Rouge discovered that the only thing about this female that insinuated she was part of a tribe were the two stunning crystal pendants dangling above her chest. That was the other thing too, all echidnas that she'd seen or come across were spindly bags of bones, this girl had the curvaceous figure the bat would've killed for at that age.

"Not at all, but that's just my opinion" he folded his arms across his chest, another feature of their Shadow. A few of them flinched on the inside at this recognition.

"It doesn't seem a little … rhetorical? To you?" She raised an eyebrow at her enemy.

"Indeed, it is, and that's why I simply have to test the waters on this one" He wore a smug smirk in the knowledge that he was pushing the girl's buttons, even if she didn't show it.

"Isn't it against your character to be so impatient? Then again, the lowness of it all matches you to a T. I guess that they balance out … heh, it looks like you've stopped working for once" A pure hatred and disgust for this thing in front of her was beginning to become more apparent at this point.

The pseudo-Shadow turned and walked over to a particular edge of the shrine, the detectives promptly stepped to the side as he came. The edge sported a spectacular view of a long sweeping field that eventually came into contact with the forests and mountains in the distance. It would have been more beautiful and impressive under more pleasant weather conditions but this didn't seem to enter the mind of the black hedgehog. He replied without taking his eyes off a point on the horizon.

"Never, but I think it just might be time to slow down a bit … take it easy. Maybe I'll stay put for a while … this is a rather nice place"

The last six words suddenly broke the girl's stoic composure and a long restrained nature was bought out into the open, shattering the first of many First Impressions.

"You wouldn't dare!" she growled with a new menace in her tone. Her enemy turned back with a conceited look of false surprise.

"Oh don't be like that. Yours is a better idea than what I had in the first place, you should be glad that I'm taking your suggestions to heart"

"I didn't suggest anything! Now get the hell out of here before I break a rule that can't be repaired!" she snapped, bearing fangs that certainly didn't belong to any kind of echidna.

This act didn't move the creature, but it did have the girl's desired effect. He kept his eyes shut in contemplation as he walked past all the others until reaching the peak of the steps, still smirking. Without turning he placed his final statement and left it lingering in the air.

"You'll give in one day … he knows you will"

She reached her borders, finally thrusting herself forward to deliver a punishment he so richly deserved…

…He spun quickly and grabbed the white bat standing a few feet away. He didn't need to lock her in the hold of a common hostage, a simple hand firmly gripping its right shoulder was enough to make everyone jump on the spot and stop his rival in her tracks. And as an added bonus, he got to see that rare look of panic in those unique eyes.

_It was too soon to act on his wants yet, he'd wait for the time when he could savour his actions the more. Right now there were other activities to keep him amused. He turned his head and gave the bat a look that would have been meaningful, but of course … she couldn't understand it just yet._

"I'll see you soon" He stared into the confused thing's eyes, putting a little twinkle of fear in those aquamarine spheres. And eventually the hold on its upper arm was taken away.

He left the same way he came in.

The pseudo-Shadow had disappeared into thin air!

Sonic finally realized that he was still present in this situation rather than a detached observer and hurried forward to the spot that the thing vanished from. In the process, bumping into Vector then the others in a small domino effect, bringing them back into first person mode as well.

Knuckles became aware that he must've picked himself off the ground at some point and went over to Rouge who was still shaken by her encounter. He ran a hand through her wet hair and cupped the side of her face in his palm, the purple umbrella had been discarded and forgotten a while ago.

She let herself fall against his body and melted into his arms that enclosed around her, feeling sick all over from what just happened to her. Rouge knew that those words were meant for that other girl … but she just couldn't ignore the feeling that he'd been referring to her at the same time. What was he talking about? And what had he meant when he said he couldn't fight her yet?

They'd both forgotten that their bond was currently one that their friends weren't supposed to know about yet. Luckily, their mistake went unnoticed by the preoccupied bystanders … except for one.

"He's … gone" the yellow kitsune managed to utter, looking at the last stones to be graced with the unpleasantness of the anti-Shadow's shoes.

"Good riddance" said Espio, returning quickly to his normal passive self. Sonic couldn't disagree more with the ninja.

"Good riddance! What the hell! He didn't tell us a single thing, Espio!" the cobalt hedgehog exclaimed. A small frown materialized on the chameleon's forehead.

"From the looks of him, Sonic, he wouldn't have told us anything even if he did stay. And I don't know if you remember, but he seemed ready to beat us to death a few minutes ago" he said in his familiar "matter of fact" tone.

"Whoa … Shadow's really freaky now" said Charmy. This was possibly the only time that the bee would ever speak at normal voice volume.

Cream was still wrapped tightly around Amy, tears beginning to emerge from the rabbit's golden orbs.

"Why did Mister Shadow hurt his friends like that!" she wailed. Amy promptly picked her up but couldn't give an answer, she was just as confused as the child was.

"That wasn't the Shadow we know, kiddo" Her babysitter stated lamely, he patted her on the head.

"It's still here…"

Heads turned at the nearly inaudible mumble of the guardian. Knuckles had bent down and retrieved one of the tiny depressing green pieces … he stared into it as he slowly delved deeper into his surroundings.

That unmistakable presence, it was still there, but … not there at the same time. He didn't bother with answering this question, he just jumped straight to finding it. It didn't take more than two seconds.

Knuckles turned his whole body to face the back of the strange girl, who had been briefly forgotten.

"What are you!" he demanded. "What have you done!"

His body froze into the familiar fighter's stance again, but he was ignored. She bowed her head under the hood of the cloak she wore.

The red echidna had gone through enough and his limit had been reached. The Master Emerald was gone, Shadow was gone, the bastard that had assaulted him and his friends had disappeared without a trace, now this equally arrogant kid knew something and she didn't even acknowledge that he was there! He was macro-seconds away from forcing some sense out of this stubborn stranger, but before he could…

She shuddered and her legs failed underneath her. The girl fell forward on her knees, burying her face into her hands before the tears could escape her eyes. This didn't stop them though, or the long restrained sobs that revealed an acute fear. She cursed between difficult breathes.

"He's never going to stop … and it's all because of me! … Shadow, I'm so sorry!"

There was no more room for First Impressions now.

_To be continued…_

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**Authors Notes: I tried to include more action but this one just added more suspense, time to change the genre methinks. What should it be? Suspense/Mystery? But there is still the KnuxRouge Romance going on and a few more pairings to come in future installments … so conflicted (groans)**

**Thanks for all your reviews! They're all that's overcoming the ADHD, keep reviewing, please! Must fight! … Must not … lose … interest!**

**Bugger, now that this chapter is over I have to go back to the pile of homework (measures paper pile with ruler) 26 centimetres in height now, don't worry, I shall push it aside when it's time for Chapter 5.**

**But until then.**

**This is Linkala, going to bed.**


	5. Cries Too Hard

**Disclaimer: I don't own them, but if I did Cream would have hair.**

**Authors Notes: I'm sorry that this chapter is so late, and I'm sorry that it's a bit shorter than the others, and I'm extra sorry that it's going to be even longer until the next chapter. The reason, my schoolwork is behind and a great deal of catching up must be done. I will throw myself back into the writing game once the holidays roll around, which shouldn't be long, so buck up my loyal followers, if I have any that is, I will make it up to you all. This chapter involves a change of scene, everyone rejoice! And when you're done rejoicing, read chapter 5.**

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They were all at a complete loss for a reaction. The few current options ran laps in their heads.

Drag her to her feet? Demand an explanation? Wait for her to stop? Comfort her? ...

None of these came to pass though as the girl's unpredictable tendencies they'd witnessed so far once again left them at new levels of surprise.

She let out a deep sigh that didn't sound like any form of communication as she fell forwards.

Sonic swiftly jumped forward to catch her before her face could be pierced by the miniature green splinters that awaited the contact of her skin. He lifted the rag doll figure and tried to look her in the eyes, to no avail. He turned to his friends with the pleading look of the utterly bewildered.

They finally came to a reaction shortly after.

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She slowly parted her eyelids to be greeted with the sight of an unfamiliar white ceiling. She knew instantly what had happened.

'_Darn it, not again. How could you let it happen then?'_

Slender crimson fingers gripped what felt like crisp sheets.

'_Not another hospital'_

She was pleasantly surprised at a few glances of her surroundings. It was a bedroom thus far, it had to be, it was decorated. And from the looks of the window to her left it was thankfully still daylight, even though it was still raining, so it wasn't going to be a repetition of last time. She allowed a small moan to pass her lips at the realization of the familiar fog in her head. This was followed by an unfamiliar soft intake of breath to her right. The face of an adult female rabbit came into view above her.

"Thank goodness, you're finally awake" the doe remarked, putting a hand to her slightly fevered forehead. The girl was relieved to find her cloak and hood hadn't been removed when she was brought there. She attempted speech.

"Where am I?" she mumbled, incredibly tired of asking the question.

"Station Square" the rabbit answered "They all brought you here after you fainted. Are you alright? You have a bit of a temperature, and you look awfully pale"

"Yeah. It's no big deal, it happens all the time" she reassured the woman as her body eased slowly into a sitting position, she cringed on the inside at the description 'pale' and the private dialogue in her head continued to scold her.

'_Idiot, of course you have a temperature! Take your freaking meds before you go out in the rain!'_

The girl gave the older female a curious look. "Who are you exactly?"

"I could ask you the same thing, dear" the strange rabbit tried to smile to cover up concern, it wasn't working well, this woman was either a nurse or a mother, possibly both.

"Al" she answered plainly, cradling her head at a random tinge of pain.

"I'm Vanilla" The newly identified doe responded "Are you sure you're okay? Everyone was really worried when they left you here"

"They?" she frowned, trying to recollect details about all those people from before.

"Vector, Espio, Charmy, Amy, Sonic and Tails"

Al found herself worse off now than she was a few seconds ago. Where to begin asking? …

"Vector! She's awake!" Vanilla had gone to the door and called out into the hallway, this was followed by the sound of hurried heavy footsteps which lead to the entrance of the large crocodile she'd seen earlier, Vector, she was going to assume.

"Hey kid, you really scared us back there" he said, taking the chair that was once Vanilla's. "You feelin' alright?"

"Peachy" Al droned, this tone of voice went ignored. Vector turned the seat around so he was sitting on it backwards, this guy had definitely seen too many cop movies. She noticed the rabbit take her quiet exit and was left alone with this strange reptile.

"As you probably guessed, we got a few questions for you"

Al had questions too, and she wasn't spilling anything if she could help it.

"I know what you're going to ask me, you want to know who I am and what I was doing on Angel Island, right?" she commented, in an annoyed and stern fashion similar to the way Knuckles usually acted.

"Er … yeah" said the croc. These were incredibly simple assumptions to come to, but nevertheless Vector looked dumbfounded, she came to another assumption that this guy wasn't too bright.

"And you want to know who that black hedgehog was" the sentence had just slipped out as, behind her irritated words, the memories played back to her, along with those once familiar ruby eyes … and how she'd never see him again. She wanted to cry again, to release the pressure grinding her on the inside, but couldn't, and cursed her emotionally frigid genes.

"Yeah, of course" The croc answered. Al put frozen feelings aside and focused on her present situation.

"Sorry, I can't tell you any of these things at the moment. But for now, there are a few things you can tell me" she regained control of the present, just the way she liked it … not for long though. Al swung her feet off the bed so she would be sitting upright on its edge, the sudden movement sent her head spinning and she fell backwards onto the mattress, the black haze was closing in again … A large hand consumed her small palm and dragged her forward sharply, nearly causing her to bang her head on the night stand.

"Hey! Don't do it again, you nearly gave ar' Cream a heart attack last time" said Vector. A bell tolled somewhere behind the clearing fog in Al's head.

"Cream?" she tried to question, but the crocodile had turned his head away from her, she followed his sight.

"I'm too young to have a heart attack" a small female rabbit stated matter-of-factly to Vector, a warm smile adorning her young face. At the same time, astonishment adorned Al's features as she took in the sight of the child before her.

"Cream?" she questioned again.

"Uh huh" The little girl replied, beaming upwards "What's your name?" she asked innocently.

"Al" came the answer again.

"Isn't that a guys name?" a new voice questioned from the doorway. Before Al could look up, a bee appeared inches from her nose. "You're finally up, Sleepy pants!" the kid continued, yelling slightly. "You made us miss everything! We had to fly you off the island and take you here, and then Sonic made us stay here to wait for you to wake up while everyone else got to go and fight Eggman! And-"

"What?" Al went rigid "What did you just say?"

The bee hovering in front of her looked taken aback but quickly recovered from the random outburst. "Er … Everyone went to fight Eggman?" he ventured.

Al jumped up and ignored the reoccurring fog completely. "Where?" she demanded, rather unintentionally.

"Back on Angel Island" Vector admitted, somehow knowing that there was nothing to stop her from going he added "It's south east from here"

In her haste she forgot to thank him but Al didn't have time to feel guilty over it. She bypassed Vanilla in the hallway and caught a glimpse of a fuchsia chameleon sitting at the kitchen table downstairs. She quickly found her way to the exit of the house she'd been brought to. A rumble of thunder from outside acted as a last minute reminder.

She drew her hand away from the door handle and instead put it under her cloak, she uncovered a bag tied to her belt and proceeded to thumb through its contents until she found what she needed.

Al bit the orange cap off the point, like she'd done so many times before, and rammed the needle into a vein she didn't need to search for. She carefully injected the clear liquid as quickly as she could without causing any unnecessary complications. As the syringe was withdrawn she cast a brief indigo gaze to the grey sky just behind a nearby window.

'_Ain't gonna work, Ciaran'_

The wind slammed the door closed behind her. Al failed to realize that she'd simply discarded the small medical implement on the ground as a force of habit. Gloved hands retrieved it.

"Oh dear" a concerned mother doe murmured to herself, she carefully pocketed her find.

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Halfway down the third street the stormy conditions caused a halt in Al's run.

After getting over the initial shock, she rubbed her eyes and regained bleary vision. A hand ventured under the hood, performed a quick maneuver and the ringing echoing in her ears was replaced with the sounds of the aftermath.

To her right across the road she saw a gathering crowd of witnesses through the fleeting white sparks inside her orbs.

Al gave a weary sigh, a red outstretched hand closed around what would have been wood, if it had actually existed.

The crowd failed to notice her as they parted her path. It wasn't intentional, the mob's milling just seemed to coincidently drift around her.

There was a soft _snap_, and a fading crystalline echo.

Al offered her free hand and dragged a rather stunned looking pelican to his feet. After gathering his senses he spoke to the girl before him.

"Lightning?"

"It would appear that way" the hooded adolescent replied.

The pelican followed the gazes of the crowd, his eyes widened to a greater extent.

"Blimey"

"What's your name?" Al questioned.

"Bill"

"Oh dear, I'm very sorry"

"Don't be. I was a lot bigger than the other kids at my school"

Al kept what was important close in mind, and felt a pang of guilt at having to keep it brief with Bill.

"Are you an atheist?" she asked.

"Nah. Born and raised Christian"

"Good to see that some still know where they're heading. I'll leave you to it"

She dashed off, leaving the pelican behind her with a fleeting dazed expression and a million questions in his head. He'd have to answer them himself. Al weaved through the streets in the direction specified by Vector. As she ran she realized her right hand was still occupied, her grip faded.

She half expected a clatter on the concrete behind her.

_To be continued…_

**Authors Notes: Al is weird, isn't she? School holidays will be upon me in three weeks or so, so hang in there until I get back, okay? I promise that to make up for the lateness the next chapter will be four times as long as this one.**

**Until such a time,**

**This is Linkala, researching Ayatollah Khomeini for my Modern History assignment.**


	6. Beauty In Me

**Disclaimer: I own Al, no one else. But if I did Amy would be less irritating.**

**Author's Notes:****Sorry about the ridiculously long period between chapters but my life (yes, I have one) has been rather hectic as of late, I'll summarize in point form to save time.**

**# Finished school.**

**# Moved out of my family's house.**

**# Moved into my own flat.**

**# Began TAFE.**

**# Got boyfriend**

**# Broke up with boyfriend.**

**And now the big one, so big that it won't be in point form. This young writer is with child, I'M GOING TO BE A MUMMY! It's a rather strange feeling, utter terror mixed with utter joy. The baby will be named either Harrison or Alison (it took me four days to realize that they rhyme, pregnancy turns your brain to mush). Sorry, I forgot that you're all not really interested in my life. I hope that I may be forgiven for the delay though, please? Now on with the show.**

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Detective Vector simply sat frozen in the chair … he tried to remember what had just happened. 

"Why did ya' tell her where to go, Vector?" asked Charmy. "Is she gonna go fight with the others?"

Everything came charging back, he wondered how he could have forgotten something so recent for a second, and he pondered over exactly why he did tell young Al where to go. It then occurred to the crocodile that the child hadn't looked strong enough to lift a sack of potatoes, let alone hold her own against Eggman.

"Uh oh" he murmured.

"You're an idiot" Espio stated plainly from the door, these were Vector's thoughts exactly. "If she gets hurt when she gets there you'd better be prepared to face the consequences"

Vector thought about the consequences … Vanilla would never speak to him again.

"Looks like I'm facing a lot of consequences today" He got up from his seat and blinked, he'd only just realized how dry his eyes were, like he'd just been in a staring contest.

"Al won't be hurt, will she?" asked Cream, her young features knitted with the familiar concern she showed to everyone when there was trouble. Vector's heart once again turned to jelly at her expression, he bent down and patted her head between her large rabbit ears.

"Nah, she'll be fine, 'cause Detective Vector is here to look out for her" he beamed, swimming in his ego briefly.

"You might want to start that by following her" Espio hinted.

"Oh yeah, c'mon Charmy, there's work afoot"

"Yeah! Finally!" the child shrieked, he bolted from the room.

"It's not work, we're correcting your mistake, so it's just our daily routine" stated the chameleon as they followed.

"Don't get snippy, we'll find her before she gets to the island"

As Vector was about to step out of the doorway a hand came into contact with his shoulder, turning around he realized it was Vanilla's, she wore a familiar look.

"Vector, did you notice anything … odd, about Al when you were with her?" the mother doe asked, she chose her words carefully.

"Odd? Where do I begin on that list?" he joked. Vanilla frowned and tried another way of questioning.

"I mean, did you notice anything … suspicious, about her. About how she behaved?"

This was a different question that shocked the crocodile.

'_Does Vanilla think that Al's a bad person?'_ he thought.

Vanilla never thought that anyone was bad, except for Eggman … she merely thought he was misguided, she saw the good in everybody and never assumed the worst about someone right from the get go … he found it quite endearing. And if Vanilla could sense that something wasn't right about this girl…

"I'll keep my eyes open" he finally replied, with a more serious tone this time.

Vanilla's hand entered her dress pocket and drew out her discovery from before, he was a detective after all, he should know about things like this, but looking up the rabbit realized that he'd already gone.

A small amount of light reflected off the glass cylinder. Vanilla sighed to herself and prayed that she wasn't jumping to such horrible assumptions so quickly … but how could she ignore it?

"What's that in your hand mummy?"

She quickly put it back in her pocket and looked down at her daughter's curious stare.

"It's nothing dear" she replied, but added to herself in the privacy of her head.

'_I hope'_

Al knew she must be getting close now, she could make out the looming grey shade of the stone shrine. She could feel the meds beginning to take effect.

'_Meds' _she repeated the given name in her mind. _'Short for medication'_ … and the thought of that was absurd. The term 'medication' implied a narcotic needed to cure or control an illness … _'needed'_ … that was the absurd part.

Al finally found what she was looking for … and realized that she'd made bad use of time by stopping along the way … her heart skipped several beats.

She'd missed everything, but the result of the supposed fight was an old man lying on his back amongst parts that must've belonged to a somewhat sophisticated piece of technology. Her heart missed another series of beats and she rushed forward to the aid of the familiar figure.

"I'll have you next time, you blue rodent!" the man yelled to what at first seemed like no one in particular, until a reply came from the top of the shrine.

"Yeah, yeah. Try not to drown when you swim back to mainland, Egghead!"

Al recognized the voice as the one that belonged to the blue hedgehog from before … she was beginning to greatly dislike him. He'd turned away from his enemy before he could notice the girl approaching the old man.

"Can you get up?" Al asked, kneeling down to be at his side.

"Who the hell are you?" Eggman demanded, still lying on his back.

"I'm- Al stopped herself quickly and simply sighed. "Nobody."

She then realized that her hand was resting in something wet, fear hit the girl square in the chest before she could even look down.

"Oh god, we have to get you to a hospital!" she exclaimed, attempting to lift the doctor under his arms, to no avail, due to his size, her size, and more to do with his struggles.

"Get away from me! I don't need any help from a beady eyed little brat like you!"

"But you're hurt! You're bleeding!" Al began to plead.

"Ha! That's just a flesh wound!" He'd begun to tremble and his voice had become strained.

"But you can't- Al was cut off.

"Do you have any idea who I am, kid? I'm the great and indestructible Doctor Eggman!" The arm the doctor was propping himself up with at this point gave out and he landed on his back again with yelp of pain.

It was at this point that Al lost her patience and her temper, but not her good intentions.

"If you're so great and indestructible then how come you can't get up? I bet you can't feel your legs either!" she snapped.

The doctor immediately ceased struggling to prop himself up again and replied with a stunned tone and expression: "How did you know that?!"

The crimson adolescent pulled Eggman into a sitting position in one fierce maneuver, held him up by the front of his shirt and glared at him with the eyes that eventually always got Al exactly what she wanted.

"Because there's a piece of metal embedded in your back, and I'll bet you all seven chaos emeralds that it's severed your spine! You will now shut up and accept my help and concern because I need you! Is that clear?!"

Doctor Eggman suddenly felt fear wash over him as he looked into the mysterious youth's eyes. All colour seemed to drain from around the pair and the old man suddenly realized that he was face to face with oblivion. His egomaniacal façade crumbled and the real Eggman was revealed for the first time in years.

"Help me" he managed to whisper desperately before he began to gasp out of pain, he fell backwards again, almost surely driving the fragment of metal deeper into his back, this assumption was backed up by the squelching sound that occurred when he hit the ground again.

"I'll take that as a yes" Al confirmed quickly, running to the foot of the great stone stairs and yelling upwards to the blue hedgehog.

"Hey you! We need help down here!"

The figure turned and four others stepped forward into sight, all of whom she recognized from before.

"You!" exclaimed Knuckles, and things picked up right where everything was left off after Al had fainted before. The echidna was instantly down the stairs and grabbed the girl by the front of her dress.  
"You got away from me before with that little act, but now you're back and you're going to fess up this second! Who the hell are you?! And what did you do to the Master Emerald?!"

"Knuckles! What are you doing?!" Amy exclaimed, trying with little success to pull the outraged Guardian away from the child. "She's just a kid!"

"Hey! I'm thirteen, I'm only two years younger than you!" the accused snapped at Amy.

"What? How do you know my age?!" Amy demanded in a tone that suggested Al had just declared war against the pink hedgehog.

"I can't tell you right now. Right now we have to get this man to a hospital!"

Everyone glanced at Eggman, and then stared at the young girl, a heavy period of silence ensued but Al wouldn't let it last long.

"What are you doing just standing around?! He's bleeding! He's going to die!" Al pleaded desperately.

"Die? Yeah right, after all the times I've pounded him he's never even bled" Sonic laughed, but quickly realized that his joke mustn't have been very funny as the girl proceeded to punch him in the face. Sonic fell backwards clutching his nose, Knuckles was trying to suppress a fit of laughter.

"Sonic!" Amy shrieked and rushed to her hero's side.

"I fink she broke my nothe!" The fallen fighter exclaimed as a trickle of blood escaped from between his fingers.

"I did" said Al "Now since we're going to the hospital anyway you might as well take the doctor as well"

Sonic jumped to his feet again facing the girl, unintentionally pushing Amy aside who was trying to lessen the blood flow with a handkerchief. Al snapped at the cobalt creature before he could speak.

"Before you say anything you can just shut up! We're taking him to the hospital and that's final!"

"Gib me one good reathon why I thould then!" Sonic snapped back, still clutching his nose.

Out of the blue, the girl strode forward grabbed Sonic by one of his ears and whispered harshly into it.

"Because you need him as an enemy. Without an arch-nemesis what would you do with your life?"

Sonic was speechless, he just listened.

"And you would never let him die anyway, you're too good to just let someone die … especially if you know that under that evil, egomaniacal mask of his he's really a good, yet misguided person … and I know for a fact that you believe that … Samuel"

"What?! How did you-?!"

"As I said to Amy, I can't tell you how I know these things yet. We have to get going" She rushed over to Eggman again, who was now unconscious and tried to get him off his back once again.

Sonic just stared at the young girl for a few seconds, looked to his feet briefly, then turned to everyone else staring at him.

"We're … helping the Egghead" he stated in the tone of the utterly defeated. "Thum one help her out" With that Sonic turned and walked in the direction of Tail's plane, head raised to the sky to slow the blood flow from his nose.

Bewildered, Rouge and Knuckles lifted the doctor from under his arms and carried him as best as they could in the direction of the aircraft. Amy followed Sonic speechlessly. Tails ran to the side of Sonic and smiled up at him.

"That was the right thing to do" the kitsune said quietly to his friend.

"Oh thut up" Sonic replied "I'm thure ath hell not getting that warm and futhie feeling out of this!"

As Knuckles struggled under Doctor Eggman's weight his gaze was transfixed on the back of the mysterious girl.

Rouge looked over to Knuckles and noticed the look of murder on his face, the same look that he had before just before she'd passed out.

There was something about the child that only the echidna seemed to be aware of.

* * *

**Authors Notes: I hope that chapter was alright, I'm not allowed to take my magic ADHD medication anymore because it hurts the baby. Please review, I need to know if I should keep writing or if I should just stop trying.**

**Oh, and as a twist, I've decided to start a little contest.**

**I think I've already told you that each chapter is named after a song, but I haven't to you that all the songs come from the same band. The first person to name the band correctly will win an outtake from a future chapter. It's not a spoiler, it's more of a clue to the plot.**

**#sigh# Why do I get the horrible feeling that no one cares?**

**Until next time.**

**This is Linkala, getting a sandwich. **


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